A new study of the Atlantic Ocean shows that the widest variety of marine creatures call Florida waters home.
By Associated Press
Published August 12, 2003
MIAMI - At least 687 species of marine life are found in one concentrated region in the Florida Straits, more than in any other place in the Atlantic Ocean, including the Caribbean coral reefs, according to a survey released Tuesday.
The results could lead to hundreds of more species to be reviewed for protected status, said Michael Smith, a scientist at the Center for Applied Biodiversity Science at Conservation International, which conducted the study.
"It's telling us there is a spot where we need to apply protective measures," Smith said.
The waters were surveyed by 84 scientists who mapped nearly 1,200 species. There are about 2,500 known fish species in the waters from the Caribbean to Bermuda to the coast of the Americas.
Many scientists had expected the coral reefs in the Caribbean to hold the most diverse concentration of marine life.
"It's quite a surprise that it turns out to be right there in our back yard," Smith said. "The Florida Straits are head and shoulders above the rest."
The most diverse point in the Straits is about 10 miles east of Miami on the continental slope, the study found. Many of the species live in tightly defined areas - as small as 100 square miles - and have slow reproductive rates, which make them more susceptible to overfishing, pollution and development.
"We are only just beginning to discover that there are restricted range species at these depths and also they are beginning to be fished," Smith said.
The second-most concentrated region of marine life is in the northern coast of South America, including Colombia, Venezuela, Netherlands Antilles. The richest area in that region had 650 species.
Ranking third was Central America from Yucatan to Nicaragua, where 515 species were counted in one area.
About 25 percent of the species mapped in the study are found in areas the size of a typical county in the United States and nowhere else, Smith said.
Blind skates, dwarf sharks, searobins and the Atlantic saw shark are among the species found only in the waters shared by Florida, the Bahamas and Cuba.
Smith said he expects the number of species to be reviewed for protective status to increase tenfold.
Policy decisions will be developed at the World Parks Congress in Durban, South Africa, beginning Sept. 8, Smith said.
